At least eight people died and many more were injured when chaos broke out at Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas, on Friday night, authorities said.
Video footage of the festival, shared widely on social media, shows a stampede of fans breaking through a fence and festivalgoers dancing on ambulances.
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"The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries," Houston fire chief Samuel Peña told reporters early Saturday morning. "People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic."
He added that it triggered a "mass casualty" event, with 17 people taken to hospitals and 11 cardiac arrests.
More than 300 hundred people were treated at the scene at a field hospital set up in NRG Park, according to NBC.
No cause of death has been given for the eight people who died, the fire chief said.
In a viral video shared by an unnamed festivalgoer, the man described the night as "a concert in hell."
—𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖆𝖓𝖊༒♱ (@officialshaane) November 6, 2021
"So many people broke in. It was just chaos, bro," he continued. "It was a living fucking hell, bro."
Another video shared by an attendee shows crowds lifting barriers above their heads.
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Unconscious people can be seen being resuscitated by emergency responders in a graphic series of Instagram stories.
According to another video, attendees danced on the roofs of police vehicles while security personnel attempted to help unconscious individuals.
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Organizers ended the event and canceled the second day of the festival.
